This post was originally published on Audible.com.
Science fiction is all about exploring the unknown while probing universal questions, meeting unusual, possibly duplicitous characters, and navigating surroundings that are either unfamiliar or made to seem so by new circumstances. All of those elements make sci-fi the perfect genre to blend with the winding nature of mysteries and thrillers. The only real difference is that our intrepid investigators have to face off against space aliens and futuristic technology instead of (or in addition to) the usual ax murderers and cobweb-strewn secret passages.
The sci-fi mystery books featured here span science fiction tropes of all types, including space-based murder mysteries, missing persons cases that make us question both new technologies and age-old human flaws, and terrifying dystopias that are made all the more frightening because of how closely they hew to our own troubled world.
Death has become virtually meaningless thanks to dispatchers like Tony, who work outside of the public eye to bring people back from the abyss. But when a friend of Tony's goes missing, they will both have to learn what it means to die—and to be truly alive in a world where what was once impenetrable becomes porous. The Dispatcher is an award-winning Audible Original brought to life by Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto, and it's one you won't soon forget.
Station Eternity is a clever send-up of the classic amateur detective story, narrated with intrigue by Sarah Mollo-Christensen. It features a woman named Mallory who seems to attract murder the way dogs attract fleas. She finds relief by going to live on a space station with no other sentient beings except the station itself, but as soon as other people start showing up, so do the murders.
Prolific audiobook narrator Lindsey Dorcus brings extra warmth to the sci-fi cozy The Mimicking of Known Successes. Even though humans have been forced to vacate Earth for Jupiter, they still encounter many of the same old problems, including missing persons. When an investigator seeks the help of the missing man's ex-girlfriend, the two women will get more than they bargained for—both in terms of the mystery and their relationship.
Fans of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch universe will appreciate Translation State, a standalone addition to that series. A translator, a mechanic, and a diplomat have all reached a turning point in their lives. What they decide to do and who they decide to be will have tremendous consequences for multiple worlds. Bridgerton actor Adjoa Andoh brings her talents to this adventure and many other books by Leckie.
Danny is thrilled when she gets assigned to work with Focus, the lesbian superhero she has idolized since childhood. Very quickly, however, strange things start happening, culminating in Danny getting stranded in the past. Can she find out what's wrong with Focus and return to her own time before it's too late? The first in the Heart of Heroes series by Molly J. Bragg, Scatter is read by experienced audiobook narrator Jennifer Pickens.
The Andromeda Strain is a classic sci-fi mystery by Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton. Actor David Morse reads this nail-biting tale of a small group of scientists spirited away to help the US government clean up its mess—a mess that has already killed almost an entire town and now threatens the world. First released in 1969, The Andromeda Strain was so popular that it inspired a sequel and an Oscar-nominated movie directed by the legendary Robert Wise.
If you're a rich newlywed like Tesla, there is nothing better than spending your honeymoon out in space, where no one knows who you are. Tesla's dream-like world is shattered when her husband is accused of murder and she must sacrifice both her anonymity and her fragile peace of mind to find the real culprit. Read by the award-winning author herself, Mary Robinette Kowal, The Spare Man is one to remember.
In a world unsettlingly similar to our own, efforts to cure common diseases have succeeded—and unleashed the zombie apocalypse. But is there more to the story than that? Two bloggers are on the cusp of finding a truth that someone doesn't want them to see. The first in Mira Grant's Apocalypse Scenario series, Feed is read by actor Paula Christensen and award-winning narrator Jesse Bernstein.
Now an Apple TV+ streaming series, Dark Matter is read with appropriate gravity by General Hospital‘s Jon Lindstrom. It follows a man named Jason. Jason’s name is about the only thing he’s sure about anymore. Yanked from his life as a college professor and told that everything he ever knew was just an illusion, Jason will have to learn to distinguish reality from fantasy and protect what matters most to him from those who have their own vision of what his life should be.
Author Louise Erdrich performs her own dystopia, Future Home of the Living God, in which the only babies being born anymore seem to belong to a prior, more primitive species of humanity. The authorities react in an equally primitive way, fearfully ripping pregnant women from their families and confining them. In the midst of all this is Cedar, an adopted, pregnant Ojibwe woman who must evade capture and find both her birth family and her adoptive parents who have recently disappeared.
What started as a simple search-and-rescue mission for a drill team in distress quickly turns into a harrowing, deadly mystery as a small crew of space travelers has to figure out what killed an entire team and how they can stop it from killing them, too. Award-winning narrator Amy McFadden brings an added chill to Contagion and the follow-up, Immunity, in which the rescue crew must contend with something far more dangerous than an alien disease: merciless politicians who want to use the disease for their own ends.
From Andy Weir, author of The Martian, comes Project Hail Mary, the story of a most unlikely hero. Ryland can't even remember who he is at the moment, and yet he is the only one left alive on his ramshackle spaceship who can save planet Earth. Listener favorite voice actor Ray Porter won two Audie Awards for his reading of this exciting sci-fi thriller about one man (and, perhaps, a friend he never expected to make) against the cosmos.
Earphones Award winner Catherine Ho reads We Have Always Been Here, the suspenseful story of a psychologist, Grace, hired to monitor the crew of a spaceship headed towards another galaxy as a prelude to possible colonization. Upon reaching their destination, they face immediate challenges that, instead of bringing the crew together, drive them further and further apart. The worse things get the more Grace suspects that their reason for coming to this foreign place is all a lie.
It's Rosalyn's job to clean up research vessels where things have gone terribly wrong. When she arrives on the Brigantine, she expects some truly horrible things. But nothing can prepare her for what she does find: a crew afflicted by a malicious alien parasite, a captain struggling to keep the parasite from taking over his mind. As ill-equipped as they are, these two humans are the only ones who can find a way to stop this alien from destroying the human race. Veteran voice artist Emily Woo Zeller lends her voice this irresistibly eerie sci-fi mystery.
Gyre and Em have been sent to explore mineral deposits on a strange world. All Gyre wants is the money from the job, but Em seems to be after something much greater, something that compels her to keep secrets and manipulate Gyre for her own ends. Gyre must navigate the planet's treacherous caves and discover the truth about Em on her own. But is she really alone? Narrator Adenrele Ojo has won and been nominated for multiple Audie Awards, and all the skills that earned her that acclaim are on full display here.